Teen accused in Lancaster killings threatened suicide

A high school student accused of killing a classmate and the classmate's parents in the middle of the night was taken to a mental institution 3½ weeks after the killings because he threatened suicide, authorities said in court papers filed Tuesday.

The teenager's father also gave investigators a knife that his son said he used in the May 12 killings and told police where to find the shoes the boy was wearing the night of the murders, authorities said in a search warrant application. The tread pattern on the shoes appears to match bloody shoe prints left at the scene, investigators said.

Alec Devon Kreider, 16, of Lancaster, was arrested at a mental institution over the weekend after his father told police that the teenager had confessed to the killings. Kreider had told detectives soon after the murders that he and 16-year-old victim Kevin Haines were best friends.

The court papers filed Tuesday seek permission to take hair, fingerprints and blood samples from Kreider.

In the papers, authorities said Kreider was taken into custody June 5 for an involuntary commitment after threatening to shoot himself with a handgun at his mother's house.

Kreider's attorney, John A. Kenneff, declined to comment.

The bodies of Thomas Alan Haines, 50, Lisa Ann Haines, 47, and their son were found at their house in a neighborhood in Manheim Twp.

The Haineses' college-age daughter, Maggie, told investigators she was awakened by her brother's screams. She said she "smelled blood" and ran to her parents room, where her mother told her to run and get help, according to the court papers.

Authorities have described Kevin Haines as the intended target, but declined to comment on a possible motive. They have said Kreider went to the home intending to smother Kevin, but instead stabbed him in the neck and chest. Thomas Haines was stabbed in the chest and his wife in the abdomen.

Kreider, who attends Manheim Twp. High School, was charged as an adult with three counts of murder. He was being held without bail.

Kreider allegedly confessed to his father, Timothy Kreider, on June 12. The father went to police Thursday.

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